Turn your fans into paying members

The secret to earning regular income is through memberships - whether you produce an online magazine, podcast, blog, newsletter or other medium. Memberships can earn you more than advertising, are more personal than subscriptions, and more engaging than donations.

Create a membership program for your medium with Steady now.

We take care of the technology and finances. And Steady only earns money when you do.

Earning money with online media – does it have to be so difficult?

How can you earn money with your content?

Once it was through advertising, but ads turn your website into a wasteland. On top of that, ad revenue fluctuates drastically, and can suddenly dry up. It’s no way to work.

This is not how this works

Some creators put a neglected PayPal donation button on their website. But this hardly result in a liveable income.

How do the big ones do it?

Large corporate publishers protect their content behind paywalls. Paywalls aren’t a perfect, but they’re better than nothing, because most people won’t pay for something they can get for free. There’s quite some people who’d pocket a candy bar instead of buying one, if they could.

You’re probably thinking:

How do I get my readers or listeners to pay?

It seems many media makers on Steady already earn four-figure sums monthly. How do they do it? They’re often just one or two people.

I already have an endless to-do list.

Sometimes I don’t feel like posting or podcasting - it’s just so much work for so little recognition or money.

You’re not alone:

You’re not an expert in marketing, software and accounting. Your strengths and talents lie elsewhere - and that’s a good thing.

The solution is memberships

Membership programs bring you sustainable and predictable revenue. Your readers, listeners or viewers pay regularly, and are usually very loyal. This is how you build a reliable and lasting business. Having regular members changes everything.

Is your personality important to your audience?

Can you offer something extra for members - such as exclusive content, or a regular Hangout for fans?

If you answer yes or even maybe, then it’s about time you launched a membership program.

Steady helps you set up a membership program

Memberships can create more work for you, but luckily Steady takes care of most of it.

Set up your Steady site

Describe how members can benefit, and how much membership costs.

Link to your Steady site

Link from your own website to your Steady site, mention it on your podcast, or use our Steady code snippet for a clean integration (it takes just five minutes).

Some of the best creators use Steady and love it

Across the world, media makers are joining forces with their readers, listeners and viewers to create fantastic content - and be paid fairly and reliably for it.

“Steady is extremely user-friendly, both for potential supporters and publishers themselves. On top of that, the level of personal support was fantastic.”

Moritz Tschermak

BILDblog

“I researched it for weeks and found Steady was the best solution... It feels that Steady just keeps growing, as there is always something happening, and faster all the time. That’s the Steady effect, I’d say.”

Katrin Rönicke

Wochendämmerung

We built Steady because we needed it ourselves

Steady is a team of developers, designers, journalists and entrepreneurs in Berlin. We have a lot of collective experience in membership-financed media. We know how well memberships can function when they’re done right.

Other companies launched by Steady’s founders:

Steady’s team members previously founded Krautreporter, a member-financed online magazine in Germany. At Krautreporter, we didn’t only want our readers to pay regularly, we also wanted to make them members of the team by engaging with them and asking for suggestions. Readers could request stories into topics that matter to them. We learned a lot as we turned Krautreporter into a profitable business - all without selling a single ad. Everything we learned has now flowed into Steady.

We’re here for you

Our office is in Berlin. Give us a call on +49 30 44 31 81 06‬. Chat with us. Or send us a Tweet at @joinsteady.

It’s free to sign up Steady only earns money if you do

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I use Steady?

With Steady you can offer your readers, viewers or listeners a membership for your publication. Members pay you regularly for your work. In exchange they get access to your content, as well as bonuses like exclusive content or a Hangout with the creators - or something like a T-shirt. It’s up to you what you deliver. The pricing for membership plans also remains in your hands. Steady takes care of the technology and financial hassle to let you focus on your writing, podcasts, videos and music.

Is Steady suitable for our publication?

Yes, when your publication meets the following conditions:

You regularly publish new content (in any medium and form, but preferably digitally).

You already have an audience (it does not have to be big, but supportive). If you do not have an audience yet and do not know how to get one, Steady can’t help you right now.

It also helps if you offer your members something in return. That could be exclusive content (Steady provides the necessary technology to protect your content). It can also be special behind-the-scenes access, like virtual hangouts with you and your supporters.

Lastly, the most successful Steady content creators already have an e-mail mailing list of their audience and can email them about the Steady membership program. That’s how several Steady creators have already achieved four-digit monthly incomes in just a few days.

We create open source code. Can I use Steady?

Yes, you can!

What can’t Steady do (and who can do it)?

Steady isn’t suitable for every situation:

If you only want to make one-time sales of individual items: Steady exclusively enables regular, ongoing “steady” payments - hence the name. Your members can of course cancel their regular payments at any time.

Steady is not a donation platform. If you want to raise money for a good cause, without offering anything back, try platforms such as BetterPlace or GoFundMe.

If you sell physical goods instead of digital content, and must manage an inventory, you should try Shopify or WooCommerce instead.

Why is Steady better than a PayPal button?

A PayPal button normally allows one-time payments. There’s also no way to make content accessible only to paying members. It doesn’t help you manage your membership. And you receive each payment individually, meaning a lot of work for you and your accountant, as someone will have to book each single revenue item.

Why is Steady better than a WordPress plugin?

Payment process with Steady is faster and more convenient than is possible with a WordPress plugin. Since Steady is independent from WordPress, you retain more control. If you change your CMS, you can take Steady with you. And Steady provides more features and a cleaner interface, because it doesn’t have to be squeezed into a WordPress template.

How reliable is revenue from Steady?

Members who use Steady are very loyal. Only 2% of members quit their memberships each month on average. And this is usually compensated by the constant influx of new members, so you’ll usually have more members at the end of each month.